


now arriving at frankston

by hypodylian



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crack, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Swearing, alternate universe - melbourne, and cries a lot, idk if this even makes sense to people outside of melbourne, it probably doesnt, mark is stressed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 23:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15351018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypodylian/pseuds/hypodylian
Summary: love blossoms when mark takes the wrong train home and ends up in frankston and meets donghyuck





	now arriving at frankston

Mark walked up to the train platform at Richmond Station, drained. He had three assignments due in the past week, and his art folio was due in less than a week. He was barely functioning, running on about three hours sleep over the past two days. The only reason he was still awake was because of the sheer amount of coffee he had drunk over the past week. It was probably extremely unhealthy and he was probably going to crash anytime soon, but he was willing to risk it for now. He leaned against one of the pillars on the platform, barely able to properly stand up. 

There was no doubt that being a high school student was hard, especially during year 12. But there was nothing like the unhealthily competitive nature of Melbourne High School to make it that much worse. Melbourne High School was highly competitive, and had some of the best results in the state, meaning if you got in, you must have been smart as fuck. Mark knew this, and he knew that he should feel proud that he was able to get in, but being stuck in a school with 400 other year 12s who were just as competitive and just as smart, or even smarter, could make for a toxic atmosphere. It was exhausting, and Mark could feel it taking a toll on him. 

The train finally arrived, an extremely crowded Glen Waverley Line service. Mark jostled his way past the other commuters, somehow managing to find himself a seat in the corner. He put his bag on the ground next to him and collapsed into the seat, feeling his exhaustion take over him. He figured a nap might be a good idea around now, especially considering he only had to get off at Glen Waverley, which was the last stop on the line. He had more than enough time to get ait of rest before he had to go do more work on his folio at home. He felt his eyes drooping, giving into the waves of sleep washing over him. His head drooped down against the folio he was clutching, and he was dead to the world.

He soon felt himself emerge from his nap, and it was much darker outside the windows than it had been when he fell asleep. The train was near empty by now, with only a few other people in the carriage, noticing the train slowing down gradually. He checked the time and saw that it was already nearly 6:30. He knew his parents were both working late tonight and wouldn’t be home until at least one or two, so he wasn’t too worried about being late home. Either way, he was probably nearly at Glen Waverley anyway, if not already about to stop there. He then heard the dulcet tones of the PTV woman’s voice telling him over the PA that the train at Kananook, and that this was a Frankston line service. He yawned and grabbed his bag from the floor, preparing to get up, until- 

Wait. Wait a fucking second. He wasn’t sure if he had heard correctly, but he was pretty sure he just heard that he was on a Frankston line train, and that he was at Kananook. The train had come to a stop, and saw that disgusting blue sign on the platform: Kananook. He looked at the train map above the window, and saw that Kananook was literally the second last stop on the Frankston line, and he felt the train start moving again, and it hit him that he was going to end up at Frankston station. Taking in a deep breath, Mark realised that he had very much Fucked Up. Big Time.

Now had this been any other day, or any other station, Mark would only have been slightly miffed. He considered himself someone who could roll with the punches. However, he was running on less than an hour of sleep, and it was Frankston station, at night. Frankston station was not exactly the nicest of places, and definitely had a… reputation, to say the least. Mark had lived a very sheltered life, never really leaving his little bubble in Glen Waverley except to go to school. The boy had never actually even been to Frankston before, he barely had been outside of his own area. All he could do was pray that he wouldn’t see any ice addicts and hope for the best. 

He felt the train slowly coming to a stop, and heard the PTV woman say that he was arriving at Frankston, and he let out a deep sigh. He figured it would take him a good hour or two to get back home, so he might as well start figuring out how. The train finally stopped, and the doors opened, finally letting Mark get out of the train. He was so angry at himself, he had no idea how he could be so stupid that he would get onto the wrong train, especially because he was now miles away from home and given Melbourne’s abysmal public transport, he knew it would take hours to get back. He stepped onto the platform and walked up to one of benches on the side, trying to figure out how exactly he would get home. He wasn’t really watching where he was going, and he felt himself bump into someone accidentally, causing both him and the other person to fall down onto the platform.

‘Oi, watch where you’re going cunt!’ he heard a boy’s voice from next to him. He looked up and he saw a boy with orange hair, who looked about his age, scowling at him. It was also then that he noticed his folio had fallen and opened up, and he scrambled to pick up the pieces of paper that had scattered around him, when he saw it - a big fat footprint on one of the pages. Someone had accidentally stepped on the page when he fell down. It was at this point that Mark absolutely lose it, unable to cope with the lack of sleep and the stress and now this, the fact that some dumb cunt had stepped on his folio and RUINED one of his pages, ruined hours of hard work, had set him over the edge. He immediately began to bawl his eyes out, still sitting in the middle of the train platform.

‘My fucking FOLIO,’ he spluttered out in between sobs. ‘I’m actually ready to die.’ he knew that the orange haired boy, who had also probably dropped stuff, was staring at him right now but he didn’t have it in himself to actually care enough to stop crying.

‘Wait, you okay?’ the boy asked, clearly confused as to why Mark was crying like a child in the middle of Frankston station. He gathered his own stuff and got up, extending a hand out to Mark. Mark looked up, and took his hand, standing up shakily next to the boy, still bawling his eyes out.

‘My folio is fucking ruined and it’s due next week and that page took me nine fucking hours to do, and some cunt just stood on it and ruined it all, and I’m literally going to kill myse-’

‘Woah, woah, woah, you need to take a deep breath.’ the boy said, leading Mark over to one of the benches on the edge of the platform, and making him sit down. ‘So, someone stepped on your folio, and it’s due next week?’ Mark nodded.

‘Y-yeah,’ Mark said, stumbling over his words. He was slowly beginning to stop crying, and he felt the other boy’s hand on his back, patting him. ‘And I got onto the wrong train so I’m here instead of at Glen Waverley because i’m an idiot.’

‘Ahh, so pretty much your standard folio week breakdown,’ the orange haired boy nodded, understanding. Any student that was in year 12 knew how high tensions would run in the weeks leading up to folios being handed in, it wasn’t uncommon to see a student have a breakdown every few days in the middle of class. ‘You’re sleep deprived as hell so you got on the wrong train and then someone stepped on you folio and now you are ready to neck. Sounds familiar.’

‘How do you know I’m sleep deprived?’ Mark asked through sniffles, even though he knew it was clear as day that he needed to sleep.

‘Literally anyone with eyes can see that, holy fuck,’ the boy said, looking at Mark’s eyes. ‘Have you even slept at all? You actually look like a fucking junkie. Anyway, just take the next train or something, and you can probably get home soon enough. I think it’ll be here in about 15 or 20 minutes.’ Mark dried his eyes, and he was finally able to take a proper look at the boy who had helped him up. He wasn’t tall, probably a bit shorter than Mark, and his orange hair was complemented by smooth tanned skin. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a hoodie, and Mark could see an earphone dangling from his hoodie.

‘Yeah, I might get some food first though, I haven’t eaten all day, I’ll find a Maccas or something round here.’ Mark said, reaching into his bag to find his wallet. ‘Thanks though, it was nice of you.’ He kept digging around his bag, trying to find his wallet. He kept digging for another minute, until he realised he left his wallet at home on his bedside table. He felt the tears welling up again, and began to bawl his eyes out for the second time in the last five minutes.

‘Wait, what the fuck, why are you crying again?’ the boy exclaimed, and Mark just kept crying into his palms.

‘I left my wallet at home and I have no food,’ he cried, and he heard the orange haired boy begin to laugh next to him.

‘Oh wow, shit really has hit the fan for you today,’ he chuckled. ‘It’s okay, I’ll get you something to eat, you look like you need it. Also sorry I yelled at you when i bumped into you, my name’s Donghyuck by the way.’ Donghyuck introduced himself, getting up off the bench. ‘Come, let’s go.’

‘Thanks, I’m Mark.’ he got up and started walking alongside Donghyuck, following him on the way to the nearest McDonald's. ‘So, are you from around here?’

‘Yeah, I’m from Morno, but there’s not much to do there so I always end up in Franga.’ Mark had never heard anyone in his life call Frankston ‘Franga’ before unironically, he thought it was something only white bogans would say. Yet here in front of him was Donghyuck, who was clearly not white, and from what Mark could gather, not a bogan either, calling it Franga.

‘I’ve never been to this area before, to be honest.’ Mark confessed. ‘Also, are you Korean? Because I had no idea that there were people who aren’t white that live around here.’

‘You know, that is the stupidest thing I think I have heard in my life, but I’ll let it slide because you’re cute and you’re clearly going through it. Also yeah, my parents are Korean.’ Donghyuck replied, and Mark felt his cheeks heat up a little at the mention of the word cute. If anything he felt that the word better suited Donghyuck, with his wide sparkling eyes and his soft orange hair that looked even brighter now, as they walked under the fluorescent street lights. 

‘Yeah, I guess that is kind of stupid now i think of it,’ Mark muttered to himself, not noticing that he was still staring at Donghyuck. Donghyuck however, had definitely noticed, and smirked at Mark, not saying anything.

‘At least you are self aware, now let’s go get some nuggets.’ Donghyuck said, leading the way into the McDonald’s that was right next to them. He ordered their nuggets and picked them up, and motioned for Mark to follow him back to the station.

‘To be honest, you don’t really strike me as the kind of kid that would do art, you seem more like you would do chemistry or something.’ Donghyuck commented as they reached the station, and made their way to the benches on the platform. Mark looked up at the display above him and saw that he still had another fifteen minutes until the next train arrived, meaning the train was about ten minutes late. Standard practice for public transport in Melbourne.

‘Uh yeah, I guess I seem like the kind of person that would do science and maths and stuff,’ Mark nodded. ‘I’m more of an arts and humanities person though, I like writing and stuff.’

‘I would not have expected that, especially because, you know,’ Donghyuck gestured to Mark’s Melbourne High uniform, which almost any teenager in Melbourne could distinguish from its prominent unicorn crest. ‘Not really what you expect from a Melbourne High kid.’

‘Yeah, my parents wanted me to do more science stuff when I was younger but I’m kind of hopeless at it so they gave up.’ Mark explained, laughing a bit. ‘You’re in high school too, I’m guessing?’

‘Yeah, year 12 too. It’s rough honestly, but I think I’ve actually been handling the year decently so far. That being said, I don’t have to do any folios, unlike you.’ Donghyuck lightly nudged Mark, and Mark could feel his face heating up again for no reason. He really had no justification for why he suddenly felt so shy, and why he was so aware of Donghyuck’s gaze focused on him. 

‘Yeah, you seem to be holding up better than me,’ Mark giggled nervously, and saw Donghyuck’s lips curve into a smile.

‘I’d probably be just as stressed as you if I went to Melbourne High though, thank god I’m from Morno and no one actually cares that much at my school. Also, you’re cute when you giggle.’ Donghyuck said, digging into the McDonald’s paper bag and retrieving another chicken nugget. ‘Also, you blush a lot.’

‘Y-yeah, I guess I do blush a lot. Also, Morno is Mornington right?’’ Mark felt himself stutter on his words, making Donghyuck burst into laughter 

‘Yes, Morno is in fact Mornington,’ Donghyuck laughed. ‘I never thought I would ever actually answer that question, oh wow.’

‘I don’t know shit, okay! I literally don’t know anywhere in Melbourne properly except Glenny, and maybe Wantirna. And my school, of course.’ Mark clarified, and Donghyuck just kept laughing.

‘Ah, you’re really funny, it’s cute. Also, the train’s here now,’ Donghyuck gestured towards the train that was slowly pulling into the station. They both stepped into the train, when Mark realised something.

‘Wait, why are you getting on the train?’ Mark asked, and Donghyuck chuckled.

‘I have tonight free, so might as well do something. Maybe I’ll do something in Glenny, grab something to eat, maybe?’ Donghyuck replied, and cocked an eyebrow at Mark, confirming that his statement was an invitation.

‘I could show you a few places to eat, I mean I might as well take a night off too.’ Mark replied, finally gathering enough confidence to flirt back (somewhat), though his cheeks were still tinged pink.

‘Yeah, I’d really like that.’ Donghyuck smiled back at Mark, and Mark thanked the stars that he got on the wrong train at Richmond.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a mess i am so sorry for this


End file.
